When the Verb Becomes Incarnate Voice: Echoes of Helen of Troy in the Electroacoustic Opera Helen and Her Ventriloquist (2019) and in the Film Helena de Guaratiba (2023)

This article deals with the reception of the mythical character Helen of Sparta as portrayed in two recent Brazilian artistic works: the opera Helena and Her Ventriloquist (2019) by Doriana Mendes and Daniel Quaranta, and the short film Helen of Nowhere (2023) by Karen Black. While in the second wor...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autor: Coelho, Maria Cecília de Miranda Nogueira
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Estado:Versión publicada
Fecha de publicación:2024
País:Brasil
Institución:Universidade Federal de Uberlândia (UFU)
Repositorio:Letras & letras (Online)
Idioma:portugués
OAI Identifier:oai:ojs.www.seer.ufu.br:article/76495
Acceso en línea:https://seer.ufu.br/index.php/letraseletras/article/view/76495
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:Helen of Troy
Helen and Her Ventriloquist
Helen of Nowhere
Classical Reception
Audiovisual
Helena de Troia
Helena e seu ventríloquo
Helena de Guaratiba
Recepção clássica
Descripción
Sumario:This article deals with the reception of the mythical character Helen of Sparta as portrayed in two recent Brazilian artistic works: the opera Helena and Her Ventriloquist (2019) by Doriana Mendes and Daniel Quaranta, and the short film Helen of Nowhere (2023) by Karen Black. While in the second work mythical Helen is transposed into an individualized female figure, in the first we see the “fame of the name that became a memory of evils”, as Gorgias wrote (Encomium of Helen, § 2), alluding to this mythical figure as a symbol of the feminine condition, split between her desire and the socially normative behavior that others (mainly men) expect from her. The analysis of the two works will be carried out in dialogue with other reinterpretations of the figure of Helen in Brazilian literature and cinema, as well as classical Greek sources featuring so-called 'Helen of Troy.'